OK, so Wireless Waffle was wrong about the real story behind the Brazilian use of the US FLTSATCOM military satellites (and their sister satellites, the UFO series). We thought it might all be innocent but it appears that there are groups of Brazilian truckers and similar using the satellites as their own personal CB radio. Calling the satellites 'Bolinho' (small ball), their activities have recently been brought to the fore by a raid by the Brazilian authorities on around 70 suspected 'hijackers'.

The story has been reported on various web-sites and it seems that the equipment being used by the Brazilian pirates was relatively widely available and manufactured from standard PMR radios. The transmitters, it is claimed, were normal 144 - 174 MHz VHF devices with their transmitter outputs run through (varactor diode) frequency doublers to produce outputs in the range 288 - 348 MHz which ties in with the uplink frequencies of the satellites which are in the range 292 - 317 MHz. A simple downconverter can then be used to receive the signals.

The US spectrum regulatory authorities (the NTIA and FCC) clearly put pressure on the Brazilian spectrum authority (Anatel) to force them to act. Legally speaking, the Bolinho hijackers are guilty of operating a radio transmitter without a licence but whether or not they can be charged with any additional crime resulting from their use of the US satellites is unclear. It is unlikely that the use of the satllites represents any further crime in Brazil as the satellites are not Brazilian owned.

Various of the news stories which have covered the raids have suggested that the US satellites are now abandoned and are only in orbit in the case of emergencies and even go on to purport that the US may now decommission the satellites to put paid to any future Brazilian (or indeed other - it is known that there was some interference to the satellites from a radio station in the Philippines) piracy. This may be true but there are plenty of recent recordings of military traffic from these satellites. These might just be exercises but clearly the US military do still use the Bolinho Birds, despite claiming they are only used in emergencies. Then again, would you admit that your multi-million dollar military space hardware had been attacked by a group of mischievous miscreants using modest modified machinery?

P.S. The idea of a graphic depicting what is commonly known as 'a Brazilian' did cross our minds but that is, perhaps, cutting it too fine...!